Inside Unmanned Systems

AUG-SEP 2018

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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32 unmanned systems
inside
August/September 2018
AIR
IPP NORTH DAKOTA
no big deal, and that there are no safe-
ty concerns or no security or privacy
concerns?"
The team also will have to work with
public officials in the cities they're f ly-
ing in, Flom said, including key stake-
holders such as city council members,
mayors and city administrators. Many
community leaders have very little, if
any, experience testing UAS and might
be leery of the technology, Flom said—
especially when they start talking with
stakeholders about the more advanced
types of missions the IPP teams plan
to complete.
"Maybe it's easier to have conversa-
tions with local governments when
you're talking about straight visual line
of sight flights," Flom said. "With these
advanced operations, there could be
new hurdles we haven't even thought
of yet, and we're trying to cram every-
thing into two years. If you look at the
test site program, we're four and a half
years into it and we're hitting on all cyl-
inders now. We weren't at the front end.
With IPP, we're still trying to figure out
the value to the industry. I think we'll
really hit our stride in two years, and
I want to make sure we don't lose that
momentum as the program concludes."
And of course, safety is the No. 1
priority for every project. To maintain
safety, the team has to be aware of
other obstacles in the airspace and be
prepared to respond. There are more
and more UAS operating in the sky,
Buchholz said, including hobbyists
who don't know the rules and regula-
tions, putting everything else in their
path in danger. Pilots also will need to
coordinate with aircraft that are sup-
posed to be there, such as manned sys-
tems that are operating medical f lights
for local hospitals.
Sticking with an incremental ap-
proach to testing also could prove to
be difficult, Flom said, because it's not
how they typically operate. Everyone
is always looking for bigger and better
technologies and use cases, but these
projects are about finding repeatable
procedures that will help make com-
plex drone f lights routine.
"It's easier to get a one-off advanced
operation that isn't necessarily repeat-
able than it is to find a way to routinely
do something in multiple different areas,"
Flom said. "That takes more time, but it's
beneficial to spend the extra time to find
THE NORTH DAKOTA
ADVANTAGE
The state has focused on developing
UAS to grow its economy for years, and
its landscape helps make testing these
systems easier, said Russ Buchholz,
the North Dakota Department of
Transportation director and Information
Technology Division/UAS Integration
Program administrator.
"We're a rural state with limited tree
vegetation," he said. "You can see a
lot for a fair amount of distance when
flying UAS."
repeatable operations that will advance
commercial operations."
THE FUTURE
Initially, it's going to take time for these
projects to gain momentum, but as the
teams begin to really home in on their re-
search areas and the projects get off the
ground, Buchholz sees the process going
smoothly, especially with the guidance
the FAA is providing through program
managers who can answer questions,
fast track requests and review the quar-
terly reports each team must submit.
All 10 IPP teams have different proj-
ects they're focusing on, but many have
similar components, Flom said, which
will make it easier to develop repeat-
able procedures. They're all working
to move the commercial UAS indus-
try forward by focusing on more ad-
vanced UAS operations and getting
the community involved, which is an
important piece to the puzzle. The
teams will report lessons learned from
this engagement and the research they
conduct to the FAA, and that will help
guide the way toward clear regulations
and routine use.
"If you look at the 10 IPP teams, may-
be there's 20 initiatives getting a pretty
good classification across a group of
different use cases," Flom said. "My
interest is not just finding one-off op-
erations. I want to see things that can
be transferred to the UAS industry as a
whole. I'm hoping everybody does that.
We're not doing anything with package
delivery but we know that's a problem
that needs to be solved. We'll solve
some issues and other teams will solve
others and collaboratively, we'll have
great use cases to provide to the entire
industry. I think everyone is going to
be able to find value through IPP."
A UAS flies over a field
in North Dakota.
Photo courtesy of the North Dakota
Department of Commerce.